Slim and None Read online

  Advance Praise for Howard Baldwin and Slim and None

  “Howard Baldwin remains one of the most engaging people I have met in my close to forty years of covering sports. I cannot say his name or envision his face without smiling. My nickname for him is Don Quixote, which he readily embraces. After reading Slim and None, you’ll embrace it, too!”

  — Chris Berman

  “An insightful read into the business side of sports from a man who has seen hockey from the ground up. Starting a professional league with incredible characters as players and owners makes for an enjoyable, hilarious read. The challenges of running a franchise and the daily interaction with all levels of hockey should be a must-read for anyone interested in the business of sport. We all love Hollywood and are so proud to have a familiar personality from the hockey world have great success in the movie business. Howard’s book is filled with great stories of actors we see and talk about every day.”

  — Kevin Dineen

  “The business of major league hockey didn’t evolve by itself — Howard Baldwin forced it forward, and the meat of Slim and None, the WHA years, shows exactly how he did it. I’ve enjoyed Howard’s book immensely.”

  — Timothy Gassen, President, WHA Hall of Fame

  “Ever since Howard negotiated a contract to bring the Howe family to Hartford in 1977, he has continued to promote the Howe legacy. From raising a Howe family retirement banner at the Hartford Civic Center to producing Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story, Howard has been a true friend to the Howe family and a great supporter of the game of hockey. It is so great to see Howard’s new book that tells about the trials and tribulations involved in Howard’s life while starting up a new franchise in a new league and beyond. Congratulations on a great book.”

  — The hockey Howes: Gordie, Mark, and Marty

  “Few in hockey history have done more for The Game with less credit than Howard Baldwin. His leadership of the World Hockey Association led to the landmark merger with the NHL and grand expansion of the Ice Game. He was the man behind the Penguins’ first pair of Stanley Cups and has vigorously — indefatigably — pursued more creative sports ideas than anyone I know. His story, automatically, becomes a must-read.”

  — Stan Fischler, Madison Square Garden hockey analyst and author of more than ninety hockey books

  “I’ve known Howard for over a decade. We’ve developed films together, some we made, some we did not. Regardless of the situation, Howard’s always been an absolute gentleman, a great listener, a kind and curious human being, and a great guy to talk sports with.”

  — Matthew McConaughey

  “Howard was one of the true leaders in ownership in the modern era of the NHL. He has always been a risk-taker and someone unafraid to fail. I am proud to call him my friend.”

  — Luc Robitaille

  “It figures Howard would pick the toughest sport to fall in love with because he’s a warrior who is all heart!”

  — Sylvester Stallone

  “It’s an entertaining read!”

  — Russell Crowe

  Copyright © 2014 Howard Baldwin

  Introduction copyright © 2014 Steve Milton

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Distribution of this electronic edition via the Internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal. Please do not participate in electronic piracy of copyrighted material; purchase only authorized electronic editions. We appreciate your support of the author’s rights.

  This edition published in 2014 by

  House of Anansi Press Inc.

  110 Spadina Avenue, Suite 801

  Toronto, ON, M5V 2K4

  Tel. 416-363-4343

  Fax 416-363-1017

  www.houseofanansi.com

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Baldwin, Howard, 1942–, author

  Slim and none : my wild ride from the WHA to the NHL and all the

  way to Hollywood / by Howard Baldwin ; with Steve Milton.

  Includes index.

  Issued in print and electronic formats.

  ISBN 978-1-77089-363-4 (bound).—ISBN 978-1-77089-364-1 (html)

  1. Baldwin, Howard, 1942–. 2. Hockey team owners—United States—

  Biography. 3. New England Whalers (Hockey team). 4. Pittsburgh

  Penguins (Hockey team). 5. Motion picture producers and directors—

  United States—Biography. I. Milton, Steve, author II. Title.

  GV848.5.B337A3 2014 796.962092 C2014-902716-8

  C2014-902717-6

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2014938680

  Jacket design: Gordon Robertson

  We acknowledge for their financial support of our publishing program the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund.

  Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —

  I took the one less traveled by,

  And that has made all the difference.

  — robert frost

  This book is dedicated to dreamers.

  Contents

  Preface, by Howard Baldwin

  Introduction, by Steve Milton

  Part One — From the Ground Up

  “Howdy”

  Parris Island: Basic Training

  Boston University, Jack Kelley and My Baseball Career

  New York Shenanigans, and a Big Break

  Jersey: A Devil of a First Year

  The Eastern Hockey League: The Real Slap Shot

  In the Stands and on the Road

  The Move to Philly

  The Flyers Get off the Ground

  The First of My Missing Roofs

  End of the Apprenticeship

  Part Two — The WHA Years: The ’70s

  Winging It

  Game On

  Finding a Rink, the Hard Way

  Building the Whalers

  The “W-Hull-A” and the Whalers’ First Season

  The “W-Howes-A” and the Whalers’ Second Season

  Goodbye to Boston

  Start-Up Fever

  Hockey Comes to Hartford

  The First Go at Pittsburgh

  Letting Loose South of the Border

  And Howe! (And Howe, and Howe)

  Merge Ahead

  The Roof Collapse

  The Whalers and ESPN

  The Final Six . . . and the Deal

  Part Three — The NHL: The Prosperous ’80s

  Into the NHL at Last

  The Whalers’ Dark Ages

  Francis and Francis and Co.: The Renaissance Begins

  A Taste of Hollywood

  Karen

  Moving On

  Part Four — The NHL: The Turbulent ’90s

  Back in the Game

  The Penguins, Part II

  Bumpy Road Back to the Stanley Cup

  Embracing Change

  Mario’s Battle

  The First NHL Lockout

  Sudden Death

  The Russian Penguins

  Reluctant Bankruptcy and Leaving the Penguins

  Postscript to Pittsburgh

  Part Five — Hollywood: The Glittering ’00s

  A Taste for the Movies

  The Kelley Connection

  L.A.: The Early D
ays

  Mystery, Alaska

  Crusader Entertainment

  Ray

  Sahara

  Mr. Hockey

  Star Power

  Part Six — Our Final Chapter in Hartford, and Beyond

  The Connecticut Whale

  The Guardian Project

  Entertainment Value in Hockey —

  You Didn’t Really Ask, But . . .

  Honoring the Past

  Epilogue

  Photo Insert

  Index

  Preface

  By Howard Baldwin

  I am often accused of being a dreamer, but what people may not realize is that I have fed my dreams with hard work, perseverance and, yes, maybe a bit of luck, in order to bring my dreams to fruition.

  For example, try this dream on for size:

  It is May 6th, 1973. I am 30 years old and I am sitting in the famous Boston Garden, where practically every great hockey player in history has taken to the ice, from Eddie Shore to Bobby Orr.

  I am watching the home team, my team, put the finishing touches on winning the first championship of the newly formed WHA. CBS TV is broadcasting the game nationally, and there is absolute bedlam in the arena. The final buzzer sounds and my New England Whalers are the first Avco World Trophy champions. The trophy is lifted, the champagne flows, and a dream has come true.

  Still think I’m just a dreamer? Well then, here’s another one for you:

  It is June 1st, 1992. My wife Karen, Howard Jr and I are sitting with our partners Tom and Kathy Ruta and Morris and Sema Belzberg in the famous old Chicago Stadium, where, again, practically every great player has jumped over the boards, from Bobby Hull to Chris Chelios.

  My team is the Pittsburgh Penguins, a star-studded group that included “Le Magnifique” Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Joe Mullen, Tom Barrasso and hockey’s heir apparent, Jaromir Jagr. We are in the process of sweeping the Chicago Blackhawks to win Pittsburgh’s second straight NHL championship. The clock ticks down to zero, and the next thing you know I am standing on the ice, hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup over my head, and Karen and I are only a few minutes from sipping champagne out of the sacred chalice.

  If that’s not enough, how about one more?

  It is February 27th, 2005. It is the night of the Academy Awards, the most important date of the year in Hollywood, and our film Ray is nominated for Best Picture.

  It is pretty surreal. Karen and I have attended many events that draw significant national attention, including All-Star Games and Stanley Cup finals, but nothing could compare to this night.

  We have completely enjoyed being showered with all kinds of perks that go to the nominees. Karen has been asked to wear $1.5 million worth of Neil Lane diamond earrings, on loan for the night. They were delivered earlier in the day by two young women who pulled them out of a valise loaded with carats and carats of baubles intended for other nominees and stars, just as casually as if they were delivering pizzas. We were picked up by a stretch limo provided by Universal, the studio that distributed Ray, and made the slow crawl in bumper-to-bumper Los Angeles traffic to the Kodak Theatre, where we ran the Red Carpet gauntlet. It is something you just have to experience to believe. The flash bulbs are so numerous that by the time you’ve walked from one end to the other, it feels as though you have spent a few hours in the midday sun.

  Rubbing elbows with every imaginable celebrity, we tried to do a reality check as we found our assigned nominee seats — in the fifth row, front and center. I had to take a moment to breathe deeply and take it all in. It was star-watching at its best, up close and personal.

  To my left sat Karen and the rest of our Ray entourage. To my right sat Adam Sandler. I was wearing my New England Whaler Avco World Trophy championship ring for good luck, not thinking anyone would notice it. I was fiddling with it because I hardly ever wore it and it was just too darn big for my liking, as most of these sports rings are. Adam saw the ring and commented on how great looking it was and that, incredibly, he had been a big Whaler fan.

  Adam asked me how I got the ring, and I explained that in my late twenties I had started the Whaler team in the WHA and we had won everything that first season. He seemed amazed and wanted to know how I had gone from winning a WHA championship to being in the room, nominated for an Academy Award. I laughed and said he wouldn’t believe me if I told him. He wanted me to tell him the whole story, but I assured him it was a mighty long one — way too long to tell him there in one sitting — but that one day I might just write a book and send it to him so he could have his answers. He told me he would hold me to that, and I guess that is how I got here.

  All three nights were the stuff of dreams, but they had become my incredible reality. Here is the story of how it all happened. Maybe by the end of my story you will agree that being accused of being a dreamer isn’t such a bad thing — if you are willing to work hard and persevere to see those dreams come true.

  INTRODUCTION

  Who is Howard Baldwin?

  By Steve Milton

  I think a more appropriate question might be, “Why isn’t Howard Baldwin in the Hockey Hall of Fame?”

  True, his name may be only vaguely familiar to the general sports public, but who, other than his mentor Ed Snider of the Philadelphia Flyers, personifies post-expansion-era hockey more completely than Howard Lapsley Baldwin? Through nearly five decades he has been heavily involved, and highly influential, in almost every aspect of the professional game.

  Howard started his hockey business career in 1966, the final year of the “Original Six,” working in the Eastern Hockey League, the league that inspired Slap Shot. His first year in the National Hockey League, as ticket manager for the newly minted Philadelphia Flyers, was also the first year of the fastest expansion in NHL history.

  He was a founding owner in the World Hockey Association — the legendary rebel league that forced the NHL out of its medieval stupor — after obtaining the rights to the New England Whalers, essentially on a bluff. When the WHA and NHL eventually “merged” to end hockey’s Seven Years War, Howard Baldwin was not only the president of the WHA, he was the one person in the room who had also been at the “outlaw” league’s first formal meeting.

  Still only in his mid-30s, Howard had come a long way in the seven years since a leading Boston sports columnist had snootily dismissed his chances of successfully establishing a WHA team in New England as “slim and none.”

  Howard’s highest public profile came as the managing partner of the New England (then Hartford) Whalers in the WHA and in the NHL, and later of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins. Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Dave Keon and Mario Lemieux all played their last hockey game in one of his sweaters before being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame (although Lemieux would later “unretire”).

  Most people, even some hockey people, don’t know that it was also Howard Baldwin who was primarily responsible for the birth of the San Jose Sharks, arguably the most consistently successful of the warm-weather franchises, and a team he should have owned and technically did own for the first half-hour of its existence. He also briefly owned the Minnesota North Stars.

  Not content to limit himself to a single level of hockey, Howard, with his partners, engineered one of the most unusual experiments in modern hockey history when they bought 50 per cent of the famous Moscow Red Army hockey team in the mid-1990s. He exported North American hockey marketing and off-ice organization to Wild West Russia two decades after his Wild West WHA had imported European players and on-ice strategies to North America. There is a lot of what-goes-around-comes-around in Howard Baldwin’s business life.

  Howard was also responsible for one of the most successful franchises in the American Hockey League, when he plugged the Penguins farm team into Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He later took a dormant AHL franchise and turned it into the Manchester Monarchs, which he then sold to t
he Los Angeles Kings. He also helped bring AHL hockey to Des Moines, Iowa.

  Although Howard was never the majority owner of any of his major league teams, the hockey fans assumed he was, because he was so clearly the “face” of the franchise. Inspired by Ed Snider, he listened to fans and valued their input, and unlike most owners, he had an affinity for the game itself because he’d grown up skating on frozen ponds and had dabbled in playing college hockey.

  Both traits made him more of a populist owner than most of his peers, never too far removed from the game or the people who pay to watch it. He was a working owner, counting tickets, hammering out difficult contracts, courting local politicians, doing whatever it takes, with no task beneath him, to help his club. He ran his teams the way a “character” hockey player plays the game.

  Howard Baldwin is an American who has had a dramatic impact on Canada’s game. The hockey landscape has changed vastly because of some of the things he’s been integrally involved with. Without the WHA, it’s unlikely that Canada would have seven major league hockey teams today, that American players would be as highly regarded as Canadian ones, that the game would have been as European-like fluid or that players could have earned enough to buy their own teams. Howard was ticket manager of the Philadelphia Flyers when the first computerized box office came to hockey, and the marketing knowledge his group brought to Russian hockey has been adopted by the KHL, helping ensure its survival, and more jobs for players.

  Howard was decades ahead of his time in gender equality: Stan and Shirley Fischler became the first male-female broadcast team in history when his Whalers hired them in 1972; during his brief tenure as a World Football League franchise owner, he made Dusty Rhodes the first female general manager in North American pro sports; and the Whalers provided Colleen Howe with an office and a marketing-management job when Gordie, Mark and Marty played in Hartford.

  Since moving into movie production in the 1980s, he has used film to bring broader audiences to his favorite sport with Sudden Death, Mr. Hockey and, most notably, the classic Mystery, Alaska.

  Howard was already the only owner with his name on both the Avco World Trophy (WHA) and the Stanley Cup when he almost completed a most unlikely Triple Crown. Ray, his production company’s biopic of Ray Charles, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and did win two other Oscars.